Seyed Mohammad Kazem Aghamir

Urology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction:

Cigarette is by far the main risk factor for bladder cancer. The smoking pattern has been changed, and most smokers switch to e-cigarettes, and the impact of e-cigarettes is not clear on the development of bladder cancer. The present study aimed to assess and compare the effect of cigarettes and e-cigarettes on the expression of TERT, FGFR3, PTEN, P53, and VEGF in rat bladder.

Methods:

60 Wistar rats (30 males and 30 females, age: 6 weeks, weighing 218 ± 22 g) were classified into three groups (10): Group A (Control), Group B: case (cigarette smoke), and Group C: case (E-cigarette smoke). The rats were exposed to cigarettes or e-cigarettes for 10 minutes. This 10-minute period was performed three times a day, and in total, the samples were exposed to cigarettes or e-cigarettes for 40 minutes a day with 1-hour rest (1.8 mg nicotine/day) for 16 weeks. Serum parameters, bladder pathology, and gene expression were assessed at the end of the intervention. Data were analyzed by Graph Pad prism 9.

Results:

Histopathological findings showed that both types of cigarette-induced hyperplasia and e-cigarette induced hyperemia and infiltration of inflammatory cells. Expression of FGFR3, TERT, and VEGF genes significantly increased in both cigarette and e-cigarette groups in both male and female rats compared to the control group. At the same time, these changes were not significant between the two groups. Expression of the PTEN gene significantly decreased in both e-cigarette and cigarette groups compared to the control group, while between the two groups, these changes were not significant. The expression of P53 decreased in both groups, but the female rat in the e-cigarette significantly increased.

Conclusion:

We found that both cigarettes and e-cigarettes changed the expression of genes involved in the development of bladder cancer, but no significant differences were found between cigarettes and e-cigarettes.Therefore, the e-cigarette is not an excellent alternative to cigarettes,and it was suggested that quitting smoking is better than replacing cigarettes with electronic cigarettes.

Keywords:

Bladder Cancer; e-cigarettes;  Rat; Gene Expression